This book employs a biographical approach to comprehensively study a set of Tang era-tomb guardian figurines, known as the Four Gods (Sishen), comprising a pair of warriors (Dangkuang and Dangye) and a pair of hybrid beasts (Zuming and Dizhou). These objects were exclusively used by officials until 841 AD and were mainly found in capitals then. They disappeared in the 9th century AD. The book is divided into three sections. Part one focuses on their symbolism through names, images, burial contexts, associated ritual regulations, and the interplay of all of these, revealing their dual significance – apotropaic and political, tied to ritual propriety, nuo exorcism, yin-yang divination, and more. Part two explores their connection to other supernatural tomb figurines in the early and middle Tang periods, challenging previous theories and highlighting regional standardization. Additionally, this part delves into the Four Gods’ regulated production, government oversight, and role in funerary processions. Part three examines their disappearance due to shifting views on the afterlife and diminishing national power. It also explores changes in the usage of related tomb objects after the Tang era, focusing on protective functions and spatial concepts.

Papers present research from different regions ranging from ancient Mauritania, through Africa, Egypt, Cyprus, Palestine, Syria, as well as sites in Crimea and Georgia. Topics include: topography, architecture, interiors and décor, religious syncretism, the importance of ancient texts, pottery studies and conservation.

Welcome to the museum! Here you will find a collection of objects from ancient civilisations. Objects of beauty, objects of functionality, objects of war, objects of life, and objects of death and burial. As you wander from room to room, explore the magnificence of what civilisations have left behind over thousands of years of human history.

This book aims to employ and illustrate the unique strengths of burial evidence and its contribution to the understanding of social identity and status in the Classical and Hellenistic Northern Peloponnese.

The hypocephalus is an element of Late Period and Ptolemaic funerary equipment—an amuletic disc placed under the head of mummies. Its shape emulates the sun’s disc, and its form is planar (although it is occasionally concave). This volume analyses the written records and iconography of these objects.